Religious News/Quotes of the Day

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Re: Religious News/Quotes of the Day

Post by David Franks »

kwlyon wrote:I has assumed this was the work of a poe but it is so hard to tell....
It expertly treads the narrow ground between exquisite parody and fearless sincerity.
"Debating with a conservative is like cleaning up your dog's vomit: It is an inevitable consequence of your association, he isn't much help, and it makes very clear the fact that he will swallow anything."
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Re: Religious News/Quotes of the Day

Post by Dardedar »

Saw this on SAV's Facebook. Excerpt from an article by PZ Meyers. He builds his points on quotes from the TV series... Firefly (which I've just started watching on Netflicks, already loved the movie Serenity which was based on it):

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The Operative: Do you know what your sin is, Mal?
Mal: Aw, hell, I’m a fan of all seven. But right now, I’m gonna have to go with wrath.
"I see priests raping children. I see a publicity-seeking nun praising pain and suffering, poverty and sickness. I see politicians pandering for votes by demanding the persecution of gays in the name of Jesus. I see godly men declaring that the role of women is to be silent and subservient…and brood a quiverful of children. I see fanatics strapping explosives to their bodies and killing randomly in the name of their god. I see lobbyists hard at work, trying to dilute science education, and suggesting that we teach the Flintstones as fact in our biology classes. I see a pope in fancy silks and gold-bedecked palace urging people to shun materialism and savor the simple life. I see deluded people opposing work to alleviate climate change because they’re sure God wouldn’t let it happen. I see ordinary people certain that these are the End Times, rejoicing in our imagined imminent apocalypse, and actively working to bring it about.

If you aren’t angry, there’s something wrong with you.

Religion is not some mild happy recreational activity; it is a poison of the brain that taints the vast majority of humanity. It is bad shit. I will not support it in any way, and I resent the complacent schmoes who urge us to close our eyes to it. One the one hand, we’ve got the moderate academic types who like to tell us it’s mostly harmless and we’ll never be able to get rid of it, anyway; to them I’d say that, as people who are supposedly dedicated to learning the truth, you ought to be the first to deny religion because a) it’s wrong, and b) it’s a fallacious way of learning about the world. On the other hand, we’ve got the happy progressives who want us all to do interfaith work, and tell us that the fundies might be bad, but we share common cause with liberal Christians; to them I say that a mind addled by liberal opium is just as faulty as one fired up on conservative crack.

I know that we can never get rid of religion, because there will always be people willing to lie for gain, and there will always be gullible people willing to believe them. But that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t hate the lie of faith consistently and without apology. There are principles an atheist should stand for, and one should be that god-belief is bullshit.

No compromises on that. Wrath will be my response to those suggesting otherwise."

LINK
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Post by Cherryj »

"The universe was created by an all-powerful all-knowing being who came down to us in the form of a cosmic Jewish Zombie who was his own father who can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree." --Christianity in a nutshell (anon)
That quote reminds me a bit of routine by William S. Burroughs:

Consider the impasse of a one God universe.
He is all-knowing and all-powerful.
He can't go anywhere since He is already everywhere.
He can't do anything since the act of doing presupposes opposition.
His universe is irrevocably thermodynamic having no friction by definition. So, He has to create friction: War, Fear, Sickness, Death,
To keep his dying show on the road.

Sooner or later, "Look boss we don't have enough energy left to fry an elderly woman in a flea bag hotel bar."

"Well, we'll have to start faking it."

Joe looks after him sourly and mixes a bicarbonated soda. "Sure, start faking it. Sure, and leave the details to Joe."

Now look, from a real disaster you get a pig of energy: Sacrifice, Heroism, Grief, Separation, Fear and Violent Death, and remember one violent death yields more energy than a cancer ward.
So, from a energy surplus you can underwrite the next one.
So, from a energy surplus you can underwrite the next one.
But the first one's a fake, you can't underwrite a shithouse!
Trying to explain to God Almighty where His one God universe is going.
The asshole doesn't know what buttons to push or what happens when you push them! Abandon ship, god damn it every man for himself!

Recollect Pope John XXIII saying, "Like a little soldier, I stand at attention in the presence of my captains." The old army game from here to eternity: Get there firstest with the brownest nose.
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Re: Religious News/Quotes of the Day

Post by Dardedar »

If all, or even most Christians were like bishop John Spong, freethinkers might be obsolete:

My take on the 3 Biggest Biblical Misconceptions
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Re: Religious News/Quotes of the Day

Post by L.Wood »

Letter of the Week ...a caring father? from Ark Democrat-Gazette Jan 6, 12

"Where’s logic in that?

A reader wrote trying to make logical sense about why Jesus had to endure horrific and demeaning suffering while being nailed to a primitive torture device in the shape of a cross.

No real father would allow his innocent son to be done this way if he could prevent it. As for the devil causing it, then no father would allow something he created (and can get rid of ) to do all this to his son.

And as for all those condemners who refused to believe that Jesus was the son of God, then a real father would put himself enough in the picture to where they would have no doubt about it. If God can give some guy the power to kill 6,000 men with the jawbone of an ass, then he could help Jesus become believable.

For a father to leave his son powerless to face a humiliating and torturous execution doesn’t sound rational, no matter how you try to spin it. Trying to make something so illogical sound logical doesn’t work on those of us who think for ourselves instead of going to a preacher and allowing him to spin it into brainwashed mush.

Is there really a loving father out there who would allow his son to be done this way to prove some kind of a point to stubborn people?

Why in telling Bible stories is so much masochistic emphasis put on senseless suffering that makes no plausible point?

GARY McLEHANEY


Benton
"Blessed is the Lord for he avoids Evil just like the Godfather, he delegates."
Betty Bowers
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Re: Religious News/Quotes of the Day

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Re: Religious News/Quotes of the Day

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Re: Religious News/Quotes of the Day

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"When I hear from people that religion doesn't hurt anything, I say, really? Well besides wars, the Crusades, the Inquisitions, 9-11, ethnic cleansing,
the suppression of women, the suppression of homosexuals, fatwas, honor killings, suicide bombings, arranged marriages to minors, human sacrifice,
burning witches, and systematic sex with children, I have a few little quibbles. And I forgot blowing up girl schools in Afghanistan."
--Bill Maher
"I'm not a skeptic because I want to believe, I'm a skeptic because I want to know." --Michael Shermer
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Re: Religious News/Quotes of the Day

Post by Dardedar »

Interesting:

Stuff Fundies Like
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Re: Religious News/Quotes of the Day

Post by Dardedar »

Not a joke.

***
The Electronic Rosary is a convenient way to help you recite the Holy Rosary!

Image

The Electronic Rosary prays the complete rosary, allowing you to follow along easily, guiding you through the prayers that make up the Rosary, allowing your mind to meditate on the 4 "Mysteries of the Rosary." The Electronic Rosary provides voice prompts to help you recite the Holy Rosary and offers you 3 recitation modes. It stores your last prayer and total prayer records, and helps solve the "losing count" problem. Includes a wrist rope, ear buds and a velvet bag. Requires 2 "AAA" batteries (included)."

LINK
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Re: Religious News/Quotes of the Day

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Re: Religious News/Quotes of the Day

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Very good compilation of Christian Nation rebuttal, hits all the main points:

Little-Known U.S. Document Signed by President Adams Proclaims America's Government Is Secular
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Re: Religious News/Quotes of the Day

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Re: Religious News/Quotes of the Day

Post by David Franks »

Prayers and ink: Flint Township church opens tattoo parlor inside its doors

Published: Thursday, January 05, 2012, 8:00 AM | Updated: Thursday, January 05, 2012, 9:06 AM

"FLINT TWP., Michigan -- A church that wears its non-traditional outlook on its sleeve is making its mark on the arms, legs and backs of parishioners and others who ask for it.

"The Bridge, an upstart church built on the belief that mainstream religion has become ineffective and irrelevant to most people, has opened a Genesee County-licensed tattoo parlor — Serenity Tattoo — inside its doors.

"Just down the hall from the Rev. Steve Bentley's office and around the corner from the galvanized watering trough used for baptisms, tattoo artists Ryan Brown and Drew Blaisdell are plying their trade by appointment or from noon until 8 p.m., Monday-Saturday.

"'I was running my own studio. I was just working. There wasn't much purpose in it,' said Brown, 32, a recovering alcoholic who said the atmosphere inside the church building has helped to keep him focused and on the right path."

There's more:
http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.s ... attoo.html
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Re: Religious News/Quotes of the Day

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Re: Religious News/Quotes of the Day

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Re: Religious News/Quotes of the Day

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Classic tracts and...the evils of Elvis Presleyism:

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Re: Religious News/Quotes of the Day

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"I'm not a skeptic because I want to believe, I'm a skeptic because I want to know." --Michael Shermer
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Re: Religious News/Quotes of the Day

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From the mailbag:

To the Fayetteville Freethinkers:

I'm writing today to announce a giveaway at the Kindle Store of a new 70-page
book called "The Evolution of Human Intellect," which answers such questions as
(1) Why did women lose their facial hair during evolution? (2) Where did the
notion of god(s) come from? (3) Why did self-awareness arise in the torso before
migrating behind the eyes? and (4) What transition sparked the feud between
science and religion? All of these questions have simple and logical answers,
which are revealed in the form of two amusement park attractions. I hope you'll
share the link below with your group members.

The giveaway runs through Monday, Feb 13, and I'm happy to supply you with free
copies in non-Kindle formats at any time if there's interest (epub, sony, &
pdf). Thanks for your time.

Rob Flanigan
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0075RI2U6
"I'm not a skeptic because I want to believe, I'm a skeptic because I want to know." --Michael Shermer
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Re: Religious News/Quotes of the Day

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